


Six People Who Lived With Keith

by zjofierose



Series: Form Ficlets! [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Families of Choice, Found Family, Gentle Shiro, Keith doesn't really know how families work, Living Together, M/M, Moving In Together, Paladins, Sheith New Year, Shiro is endlessly supportive, and isn't convinced it matters, and just wants Keith to be happy, background allurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 06:51:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17320046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zjofierose/pseuds/zjofierose
Summary: This is my family. I found it, all on my own.(5 + 1 fic about Keith's understanding of what makes a family.)





	Six People Who Lived With Keith

**Author's Note:**

> For the Sheith New Year collection/challenge: Day 3 - Family.

1.

Pidge moves in on a Thursday, tossing her duffle bag into the spare room and scowling mutinously in every direction. Shiro knows she hadn’t really wanted to move out; after having been separated from her family so long by deep space, she never wants to be far from them again. On the other hand, she’s also now twenty one, and living in her childhood bedroom is cramping her style in some serious ways.

Moving in to Keith’s apartment had been the compromise: she’s not alone in some anonymous beige box, she’s still a five minute walk from her parents’ house and can go home anytime she likes, for as long as she likes. They can come check on her when they need to, though the frequency of those visits decrease after the first time Keith answers the door in his BVDs with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.

It’s a good arrangement for all concerned. Pidge gets a little space, the kitchen gets a  _ lot  _ cleaner, because the countertop suddenly often needs to be sterile, for Science Reasons. She’s an ideal roommate in a lot of ways, not the least of which being that she’s a very known quantity. Her drawbacks (leaves robot bits around, climbs things like a monkey on account of Short, has never folded laundry in her life and does not see the point) are far outweighed by her benefits (cheerful, fun to be around, socially astute, and will not mix the wrong chemicals when cleaning the shared bathroom). 

Pidge and Keith have always gotten along like a house on fire, smart enough to keep up with each other’s leaps of logic and intuition, but with different enough interests that they’re rarely in direct competition. They share a taste in bad horror movies and terrible wine coolers, and don’t need words to fill silence when it falls.

It’s good, Shiro thinks, for both of them, as he carefully paints a P on her bedroom door. Keith had wanted to make sure she felt welcome, and he’s happy to oblige. Noises had been made about her moving out on her own after a while, but Shiro’s not holding his breath.

 

2.

Pidge goes to stay with her family for a couple weeks when Kolivan comes, and deep cleans her room before she goes so that it qualifies as a guest space once again. Kolivan insists that it’s far too much trouble they’ve gone to, that he really could have slept on the couch. Or the floor. 

“Or hung from the ceiling like a giant purple bat,” Keith grumbles later, and Shiro snorts.

Kolivan is an exceptionally meticulous house guest: there’s next to no trace of his presence, in spite of the fact that he stays for several long weeks as negotiations between the Blades of Marmora and the Garrison drag on regarding a shared secret intelligence training program. He leaves a Galra tooth cleaning device on the bathroom sink and a fastidiously cleaned mug on the kitchen counter which he washes and uses daily for his entire stay.

“I hope he feels comfortable,” Shiro comments to Keith one Tuesday afternoon when Kolivan is out, and Keith looks at him in surprise. 

“You haven’t noticed how relaxed he is?”

Shiro shakes his head, because no, he definitely hasn’t noticed anything about Kolivan that he would presume to call “relaxed.”

Keith purses his lips, then shrugs. “Yeah, he’s enjoying his stay. He told me just yesterday how much he’s liking his trip. I think it’s the closest thing he’s had to a vacation in decades.” Keith starts the coffee maker, studiously avoiding Shiro’s pointed look of disapproval over caffeine after lunch. “The meetings are only a few hours a day, and there’s no one around who directly answers to him, so no one’s asking him questions and he doesn’t have to keep tabs on underlings.”

_ Huh _ , Shiro thinks, and pours his juice.

The novelty t-shirt is actually Hunk’s idea, and it’s Matt who pays for it, but it's Shiro who nearly dies choking on his coffee when Kolivan wanders nonchalantly into the kitchen his last Saturday in town with  _ “Someone in Arizona loves me!” _ emblazoned across his chest.

Hunk was right, Shiro thinks as he wipes his streaming eyes, Kolivan can rock the neon.

 

3.

It’s a larger apartment with an actual designated guest room, as well as an office with a pull-out couch just in case, when Iverson moves in.

“It’s just for a week or two. They’re upgrading and repainting all of the single officer quarters, and the Garrison guest house is all booked,” Keith says when Shiro raises an eyebrow at him. “I know we’ve never been… close, but it didn’t sound like he had anywhere to go.”

“ _ Close _ ?” Shiro says, trying not to laugh. “He had you in detention more hours than you were in class. You punched him so hard you fractured his cheekbone.”

Keith frowns, and Shiro feels a momentary stab of regret. It’s been quite a few years since Keith was that fierce and angry teenager, and Shiro thinks he doesn’t always like reminders of that time in his life. Sometimes having known each other so long is less of a blessing, Shiro thinks, and reaches out to wrap an arm around Keith’s shoulders. 

“It’s very generous of you to offer to let him stay here, but are you sure he wouldn’t be more comfortable in a hotel or something?”

Keith snuggles under his arm, but looks at him with confusion. “Why would he be more comfortable in a hotel than here? This has a kitchen, a real living room, and it’s closer to the Garrison.”

Shiro opens his mouth, but finds himself with no real counter-argument, so he drops it in favor of pulling Keith into a hug, pressing his nose into Keith’s hair and breathing slowly. “When’s he coming?”

“Friday,” Keith says, and kisses him.

 

4.

“I was thinking about fixing up the house,” Keith says, apropos of nothing during their morning yoga session. 

“Okay,” Shiro pushes into a tripod headstand, “any particular reason?”

“Lance and Allura are outgrowing their place, and you know Pidge would like her own dedicated lab,” Keith answers, moving into downward dog. Shiro nearly misses his next sentence, distracted by the sight of the dimples at the small of Keith’s back. “Technically, I own about a hundred acres surrounding the house. I figured we could start by fixing up and maybe expanding the existing structure, and then draw out some plots for other buildings, see if we couldn’t get something done before McClain #5 is due.”

Shiro pikes down out of his headstand and settles onto his knees, watching as Keith moves fluidly through a sun salutation. 

“You want to build a paladin compound.” Shiro doesn’t know why he’s surprised, if he’s honest. Keith grew up alone and lonely, and then moved directly into circumstances where he lived in barracks, followed by the communal spaces of the Castle of Lions and Voltron where they spent literally years living in each other’s pockets. It’s no wonder the concept of “nuclear family” hasn’t really ever gelled with him.

“I guess?” Keith meets his gaze from where he’s pushed up into sphinx pose. “Is that weird?”

“We pilot magic space robots. You’re half alien. What’s weird?” Shiro asks philosophically. “I think it makes sense.”

“Yeah?” There’s still an echo of concern in Keith’s beautiful eyes, so Shiro army crawls across the floor to kiss him. 

“Yeah, I think it’s a good idea.” Shiro smiles. “Normal’s for suckers. We’re the Paladins of Voltron and the Captain of the Atlas.” He kisses Keith lingeringly before pulling back to look at him. Keith’s cheeks are pink, and he is utterly charming. 

\--

It’s an hour later when the penny finally drops. “Hey, Keith,” Shiro shouts from where he’s assembling a sandwich in the kitchen.

“Yeah?”

“James told you about his divorce, didn’t he?”

Shiro knows he’s right; Pidge is still in her room when she’s not going to some scientific conference or another, Krolia has commandeered what used to be the guest room now that she’s serving a term as the designated Galra Ambassador to Earth, and Romelle’s been using the pull-out couch for the last couple weeks. There’s currently no open space.

“Yeah?” Keith appears in the doorway, his face carefully neutral. “I’d been thinking about it anyway, but yeah. He told me. Thought this might be as good a time as any to make some changes.”

“Did you already tell him he could move in?” Shiro wipes the last of the peanut butter onto his bread and sets the knife in the sink. 

“Their lease is up in three weeks and he needed to make a decision about where to go next,” Keith says, “I just hated the idea of him sitting alone in some shitty one-bedroom and going through this all by himself when he could be with family instead.”

“Three weeks is pretty quick to get the house updated enough for everyone,” Shiro muses, taking his plate to the table, but crossing to where Keith leans against the doorframe. “Have you told Pidge and Krolia yet?”

“Hunk said he’d help, and the other MFE’s took next week off to work on construction. Leifsdotter drew up some blueprints and Rizavi’s already started ordering appliances, so I think it should be doable.” Keith shrugs. “We’ve done more with less.”

“So you want to wait to tell them until there’s something to show?”

“You know how Pidge hates change,” Keith answers, “she’s not back from the latest conference until after next week anyway. I was hoping having foundation laid for a lab would make her feel better about it.”

Shiro hums in agreement, leaning forward to press their foreheads together and letting his eyes fall shut. It will never fail to amuse him how thoroughly Keith plans for things before even bringing them up. It’s a little bittersweet in thatShiro’s pretty sure that it’s a trait stemming from a history of rejection, but it’s also just funny, because he doesn’t think Keith is capable at this point of not being about fifteen steps ahead of everyone else. 

“I love you,” he says, and feels the puff of breath as Keith laughs softly against him.

“I love you too,” Keith says, amusement and affection thick in his tone.

 

5.

“Yeah,” Shiro hears Keith say from inside the house, “Yeah, of course. It’s no problem.”

He adjusts the brim of his hat and turns his attention back to the cherry tomatoes. Pidge has decided this is the year she wants to experiment with canning, so the garden had been expanded from a modest set of window box plants to a full half-acre stretching behind the refurbished Kogane house. 

“Sure. Tell her she’s welcome whenever. Yeah, I’ll be here. Yeah. Okay. Take care.”

Shiro hears the video call disconnect and the bang of the screen door that announces Keith’s presence.

“Lance?” he asks, efficiently stripping the plant in front of him of ripened fruit. 

Keith exhales hard. “Yeah,” he says, “They’re still having trouble with Melenor.”

“She  _ is  _ seventeen,” Shiro comments, “and being the oldest in a big family is hard, or so I’m told.”

“Not like I’d know.”

Shiro laughs. “Yeah, not something either of us would really have experience with, huh?”

“Mom wishes,” Keith grumbles, and Shiro turns to pop a sun-warmed tomato in his mouth. 

“So she’s coming here?”

“Yeah,” Keith mumbles around his mouthful, “Lance said he’d help bring her stuff over in a few hours.”

“Are you thinking of putting her in the office or the guest room?”

“Guest room,” Keith says, stealing another tomato from Shiro’s basket, “but I was also thinking that maybe we should add another wing to the house. I don’t want her to feel like we’re waiting for her to leave, but I also don’t really want the guest room tied up indefinitely." He rolls his shoulders, tipping his head back to soak up the sun. "Mom's got her own room these days, but you know how Kolivan and Coran like to drop by.”

“You really think it’ll make that much difference?” Shiro asks, “I can literally see Lance and Allura’s house from here. It’s not like she’s going to be moving far from home. She can go back at any time.”

“I don’t know.” Keith shrugs, nonchalant in a way that raises all sorts of warning flags for Shiro. He sets down the tomato basket reaches out to settle a hand on Keith’s shoulder, not quite sure who he’s seeking to reassure. “I want her to feel like it’s a long-term option.”

“...and?” Shiro prompts, waiting for Keith to meet his eyes.

Keith breathes out, lifting his chin in an unconscious gesture of defiance, challenging the universe to nay-say him even now. 

“And I was thinking that I’d like to foster.”

It’s not a new conversation, but it’s the first time Keith’s said it with a definite timeframe implied, and Shiro takes a second to let it sink in. 

“So you want more rooms?”

“Yeah,” Keith says, and there’s something still shy about his posture, like he expects to be told he can’t, or he shouldn’t, so Shiro lets himself smile, long and slow, and holds out his arms for Keith to step into.

“Guess we better draw up some plans, then,” he says, and laughs as Keith proceeds to kiss the life out of him.

\---

+1

“You probably shouldn’t just live on the Atlas all the time, Shiro,” Keith says, eyeing the pile of clothes tossed in the corner of Shiro’s office dubiously. “I’m pretty sure that crosses some of those work/life boundaries you’re always going on about.”

Shiro rolls his eyes, but settles into his chair with a sigh. 

“I guess I just don’t know where to go?” he says after a minute, “I don’t really want to move into Garrison housing, and it seems silly to go to the trouble of renting an apartment in town when Atlas has quarters for me.”

“What about buying a house?” Keith walks around the desk and settles himself onto Shiro’s lap. It’s both new and not at all new, this thing between them: newly acknowledged, but as old as time and space itself. 

“All that room just for me?” Shiro wrinkles his nose. “I think it’d end up making me lonely.”

“Move in with me, then,” Keith says, leaning in to kiss him. “I’ve got a two bedroom. We can share, or we can each have our own space.”

Shiro can’t help the sudden thump of his heart. It’s silly, it’s not like they haven’t been living in close quarters nearly the whole time they’ve known each other. (Shiro discounts the Kerberos trip, and his Galra captivity - that wasn’t “living”, not really.) “Are you sure?” he asks, just to be safe.

Keith pulls back, puzzled. “What’s to be sure about?”

“What if we break up? What if you get sick of me?” It’s out of his mouth before he can stop himself, and he regrets it the second Keith’s face starts to fall.

“Do you think we’ll break up?” Keith asks, and his body’s tense, his face wary. 

“No,” Shiro says immediately, pulling Keith in to kiss him, “ _ No _ , I don’t. I’m an idiot, I’m just parroting all the things I’ve ever been told about moving in with someone.”

Keith relaxes in his arms, curling up against his chest, and Shiro lets himself think about it. Waking up with Keith in the morning every day, lying down to sleep with him at night. Building a life together, beyond just their jobs and their friendship.

“I won’t get sick of you,” Keith whispers, “never. Too many times I thought I’d never have you again, I’ll never get tired of having you back.”

Shiro clutches him close, rubbing his cheek on the top of Keith’s head. “I love you,” he says, and feels Keith relax against him further, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I do want to move in with you. I want to be with you all the time, for the rest of our lives.”

Keith sits up, eyes dark and smiling. He kisses Shiro once, long and soft, then climbs off his lap, grabbing Shiro’s hands and pulling him to his feet. 

“C’mon, captain,” he says, hauling Shiro to the door, “grab your stuff. Let’s go home.”

 


End file.
